Dr. Abad took a prewar Japanese friend (a naval engineer) to the Astoria. His guest saw the map, pointed to the Solomons, and said, "Very bad place. I come from there. It's a terrible place. Too many bombs everyday ... everyday too many bombs." He kept shaking his head as if to shake the memory away. Later, Dr. Abad invited him home for supper and got an earful on the "serious" food situation in Japan. There is no coffee or sugar. If you're invited to supper at a friend's house, it's understood that you have to bring your own rice ration.

That same afternoon, one of five naval officers asked Schaer if he could buy some Lipton Tea and sugar cubes for drinking on board ship. Reluctantly, Schaer gave him a couple of small bags of tea, then said, "But don't you have sugar on your ship?" The officer looked surprised then embarrassed. They don't.